Prejudices When Choosing A Bass

[Skybone]

Sunburst (or any "burst" for that matter)

Humbuckers

Active Electronics

Twin Pickup Basses without separate volume controls

 

[uk_lefty]

I want to like PJ basses but I think they are prejudiced against me. 

 

I'm still not ready for fan frets.

[SamIAm]

4 strings!

Which is frustating, I play short/sub short scale due to fretting hand pain on anything longer and there are vanishing few 5 string short scales about.

S'manth x

[Woodinblack]

A lack of 5 string option 

 

sunburst

tort

4+1 headstocks

unpainted headstocks (on painted guitars, ok on not painted)

passive basses, or more specifically, passive basses with controls

 

 

[Machines]

Single pickups 

Satin painted finishes (as they always shine up, and are generally more fragile than gloss poly)

Non-speed loading bridges aka 'BBOT'

Batteries inside control cavity, rather than a quick access flip box

Jack sockets in a funny place so my Boss Wireless unit doesn't fit

Active basses without a passive mode

 

n.b. amongst my basses, all of the above exist 🤣

[basshead56]

5 or more Strings. Bass VI doesn't count

 

Weird shaped, high end custom jobs with ugly curves and horrible wood finishes. 

 

Most Ibanez basses

 

Headless basses that aren't Steinberger or Kubicki.

 

Maple boards on Jazz basses (I do own one though 🤣🤣🤣)

 

Chinese knock-offs. Stop bringing them in and letting dodgy people try and pass them off as real when on-selling and conning folk. (hasn't happened to me or anyone I know but you do read about it more these days)

 

I think the Meteora looks hideous.

 

 

Ok I feel lighter now. This is a great form of therapy 🤣🤣🤣

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

unpainted headstocks

Ooh, you’ve reminded me of one that I’m really not a fan of… painted headstocks, just not for me. Do I have one? Oh yes, but at least it’s black.

[Guest]

I won’t buy a bass with:

 

basswood body

active only pickups

small headstock (in fact any headstock other than the Fender shape or something very close)

white pick guard

no pick guard

[Oopsdabassist]

'Coffee table' basses.  I can't explain why but 99% of those exotic wood basses with an 'interesting' grain.....just leave me cold.  Also relicing a bass......why pay good money for something I can do myself over a period of time by just playing it?  Too weird for me.

[Heathy]

- bass ranges that don’t have a passive option.

- single ply pick guards.

- putting a Fender decal on a non-Fender bass.

[mr4stringz]

10 or 15 years or so ago my list would have been massive. I’ve seen the light on much of that stuff though and/or mellowed.

 

Now there’s just -

 

Any black bass with a black scratchplate that doesn’t have black screws.

 

Any 5 string Fender Precision. It just looks wrong.

 

Those stupid neon green strings (DRs I think).

[cdog]

Painted headstocks and generally large heads, anything heavy or un balanced, and anything active only. I'd struggle to commit to a single pickup too.

... but I love a good sunburst finish.

 

[badger]

as Henry Ford said, “any color so long as it is black”.

[crazycloud]

19 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

What are your prejudices?

FSOs. Simply don't like any of them aesthetically and I find them uncomfortable, and the US ones are phenomenally overpriced for what you get; and that's for stockers, not CS.

 

Plus no 6s.

[Passinwind]

19 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

It bugs me that:

• any bass is not offered in Black.
• a headstock on a 4 string has a 3 + 1 machinehead pattern.
• someone says they can only use one brand or type of bass,

 

What are your prejudices?

Ruh roh!

 

Don't like frets, painted finishes, anything plastic, top routed control plates, screw on necks, glossy maple fingerboards, ashtrays. And FSOs of any ilk definitely need not apply.

[Hacksawbob]

Painted necks, relics, stickers, Rick bridges, tort pick guards, plastic knobs, truss rods you have to take the neck off for access.  Harley Benton, just the name irritates me! Schaller strap locks. Pickup height screws that don't work properly and get chewed up. Skinny straps, G&L headstocks. 

[MrDinsdale]

* Presence of tort.

* Typically hate sunburst but can get on with an extremely subtle burst.

* Currently anything more than 4 strings.

* Anything with elongated or excessively pointy top/bottom horns.

* Single cut, seen some I like but wouldn’t buy.

* Anything over £800, some of my favourite basses are just nicely set up £400-500 so can’t ever imagine spending loads on a bass again unless it was really special/custom. 

[Rodders]

15 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I see your disconnected tone pot, and raise with a P pickup wired directly to the output jack socket.

 

You should be aware though that just disconnecting the tone pot without using a different value volume pot or inserting a resistor f matching value to the tone pot to compensate is going to raise the resonance frequency of the pickup some, and thereby make the tone your pickup reproduces slightly brighter than it was with the tone pot?

 

 

Yep, that suits my purposes  My next build will have a the pickup wired direct to the output jack.

[Ed_S]

Tort pickguards. Though I'll make a rare exception if it's a dark tort guard on an Olympic white P with a dark rosewood board, as that can look right somehow.

Gold hardware. I'll buy a bass with it, but only if drop-in replacements are available and it's still worth it after I factor in the cost of a complete set of black or chrome.

Sunburst finishes. No exceptions.

Old basses with 'mojo', or new relic jobs. No exceptions.

[40hz]

The only thing I can think of that is an absolute no-no under any circumstance is anything finished in Sunburst. Absolutely horrendous.

[Doctor J]

Relic jobs. Embarrassing. The pre-ripped jeans of our time. Like wearing a tatty Ramones t-shirt when you don't even know who the Ramones are. An artificial narrative to deceive your audience. Oh, the fakeness! Help me, Mother!!!

[Ramsay777]

"If it's cheap, it's probably crap"

[Chienmortbb]

12 hours ago, mr4stringz said:

10 or 15 years or so ago my list would have been massive. I’ve seen the light on much of that stuff though and/or mellowed.

 

Now there’s just -

 

Any black bass with a black scratchplate that doesn’t have black screws.

 

Any 5 string Fender Precision. It just looks wrong.

 

Those stupid neon green strings (DRs I think).

We must be soulmates.

[Chienmortbb]

14 hours ago, Lord Summerisle said:

I won’t buy a bass with:

 

basswood body

active only pickups

small headstock (in fact any headstock other than the Fender shape or something very close)

white pick guard

no pick guard

You would not like my Aerodyne then. Now I wonder whether I should put a preamp in.🤣

[Chienmortbb]

I have just realised another, if I am allowed:

 

Elephant Ear or Clover Leaf machine heads. 

As an addendum, people calling machine heads, tuners. Tuning pegs possibly, but not tuners.